[IL] Ex-Customer Gives Mediacom a Second Chance

I had Mediacom Internet 6 years ago. It was a horrible experience. When DSL came to my village I quickly dumped Mediacom. DSL has been frustration free but at 3mbps I found that I wanted faster speed. Faster Speed and Frontier DSL can not be used in the same sentence.

Mediacom Chad found a very enticing promo for me. It includes a 90 day money back guarantee. I decided to give Mediacom one more chance. Next tuesday 2-14-12 I get Mediacom 12mbps internet installed. I only hope it will be a more pleasant experience than my last time with Mediacom.

Chad tells me my old Motorola SB5100 modem will still work ok with Mediacom. Does anyone have any experience with this modem. I used it for 2 years and it seemed to work fine, however Mediacom internet speed was 5 mbps at that time. Since my local system is still Docsis 2.0, I am assuming there is no speed benefit to upgrading to a newer Docsis 3.0 modem.

I will post updates to my Mediacom experience here, good or bad and I am not going to cancel my DSL until I am certain that Mediacom service has changed for the better...

I think this s the same modem that a buddy just got. I've never heard him complain yet and every time I've been over there he's had consistent 10-12 mb speeds. I don't think you'll have much to worry about

I use the SB5100 still. With my previous ISP I had upgraded to a docsis 3.0 modem but when I moved here I gave it to a family member who could utilize it since I knew MediaCom didn't offer those speeds in this area. Blew the dust off the SB5100 and it has worked just fine ever since.

I certainly hope so. I will be very disappointed if Mediacom's 12mbps is not faster than my 3Mbps DSL. The last time I had Mediacom Internet the top speed was 5mbps. I never had a problem with the speed, it was always around 5mbps. The problem was reliability, sometimes it would be down for days for no apparent reason. It wasn't isolated either, it was down regular.

I *heard* that my village has a new headend (whatever that means) and usage is 40%. Also I feel the support here from MediacomChad is worth a lot. All these factors made me decide to try Mediacom again.

I am on Mediacom now, and having good luck with their 15Mbps package, got an upgrade from 12Mbps due to taking phone service. To answer your question, I used to use a SB5100 on Comcast up to about 5 years ago, and it was fine. At the time, they only had up to about 6Mbps from what I remember, but it was a good modem, a lot better than the garbage Comcast would rent out at the time.

Now, I can't use the SB5100 I own since I am using Mediacom's phone service, it requires a modem with a POTS port.

Now, I can't use the SB5100 I own since I am using Mediacom's phone service, it requires a modem with a POTS port.

It has been mentioned in other posts, but you can use your own modem. They just put in a splitter and run both modems. The one from Mediacom gets set up a phone-only. It saves you the $5/month modem rental fee.

Edit: The power block on my old 5100 says it is 12 Volts 750mA. At $0.10/KWH, it costs less than 65 cents per month to operate. The modem I replaced it with is 1A, so it costs just over 86 cents per month. Both numbers are based on the rating of the power adapter and not actual consumption.

for what it is worth, I gave them a second chance after about 7 years and it has all been good except for a 5 day stretch last month.....but looks like they got every thing squared around........i do still have 7 meg DSL too.....but I cannot be without internet........so I guess I have the best of both worlds LOL

said by Lazy Senior I will post updates to my Mediacom experience here, good or bad

The Bad News:Saturday I got a computer generated phone call from Mediacom confirming my install appointment for Tuesday from 8am-noon. Monday evening I got a call from a live Mediacom rep confirming that I would be home for the install on Tuesday from 8-noon.

Tuesday comes and no install tech comes in the morning. No phone call, no show, no nothing. At 2:15pm I shoot Mediacom Chad a IM telling him my displeasure and disappointment with Mediacom. At 4PM an install Tech arrives - 4 hours late. No apology and he did not look happy. He was in a very big hurry and got my Internet installed.None of this surprised me, after all this is Mediacom Cable company. This is what cable companies Do.

I hope that this is my last disappointment with Mediacom.

The good news:The Internet speed is fast. I have checked speed a dozen times or so at different times and it runs from 11.6 to 12.2 mbps at around 35-47ms. This is very acceptable.

Yep I'm much in your same boat. I left them because their service had become a joke. I gave them chance in um like july or august. I'll tell you one thing that's impressed me. Like you said the speed. It really does stay 12.2 down pretty much the entire time I'm doing something. Lightyears beyond what it used to do. So it's been several months now and really couldn't be more happy with the speed and it's up time. Amazing improvement.

Sales rep fella came other night he mentioned they did fiber upgrade in my area, don't know if that was some sales pitch lie or if in the Silvis, Il area they really have updated things some.

That very likely is not the techs fault. Chances are good that he was booked for two 8-noon installs (maybe 4) and one or multiples became gigantic cluster f***s. Many installs look quick (simply adding a modem or activating an outlet) and become a gigantic nightmare. So although it's unfortunate your appointment was missed, the tech was still able to get your service installed.

As a contractor for many years, the reason no techs call is because customers will take your phone number and then every time they have an issue call you directly; nights, weekends, etc. This is why after about the third day no one calls. Also I would routinely ask dispatch to call the jobs that were going to be delayed only to find out that they didn't bother to call.

Contractors use their PERSONAL cellphones as well, so unless you have unlimited airtime wasting time on these calls is annoying at best.

Not providing excuses just attempting to explain it from the "other side of the coin" but you've obviously already got your mind made up and are not looking for facts.

Not providing excuses just attempting to explain it from the "other side of the coin" but you've obviously already got your mind made up and are not looking for facts.

Facts are fine. The truth is I sat a home all day waiting for a Mediacom Representative, when I was told he would be there in the morning. If the tech will not call, then someone at Mediacom needs to call the customer. This is not a good way to start a business relationship, especially since the customer has a very poor opinion of Mediacom to start with.

What happens to ANY company that treat customers like they are an after thought? They lose customers.

I have the latest advertisement from Mediacom, sent to me a couple of weeks ago. It says in part:

Mediacom gets another chance at making an appointment on time. MediacomChad who is making sure my service is satisfactory IMed me the other day and said my downstream power needs "leveling out". It is running at 11-13 dBmV and I guess that is too high. Anyway he made an appointment for a Tech to fix it. The appointment is 8-12AM tomorrow. Hopefully this Tech does better.

This is a 30 minute ARRIVAL window, not appointment window. And did this customer ask for a 30 minute arrival window appointment? I've already ran into this that they only are doing the 30 minute arrival window at the start and end of the day.

My Mediacom saga continued today.The Tech called me a half hour before actually arriving to tell me he was on the way. He was on time. He also was courteous, friendly and interested in fixing the problem. I asked him lots of questions and he willing explained things to me. Mediacom needs more employees like him and MediacomChad.

After about 1 1/2 hours of hours of work the Tech left. He replaced the tap port on the pole and adjusted attenuation. The tap port had lots of water in it. He also installed a ground block, which the installer had failed to do. My modem signal page looks lot better and speed is as advertised.

Maybe it was not "The Best customer experience possible."But Better than what I have gotten from Mediacom in the past.

The Best experience possible would have been to get it right the first time - when my Internet was initially installed.

FWIW this Tech was not a contractor, he had a Mediacom truck.I asked MediacomChad to give the Tech an atta Boy or Gold Star. He deserved it.

It sounds like this current experience was, in fact, "the best possible".

Does "The Best Experience Possible" really need to include a time machine, to go back and keep things from going wrong in the first place? That seems to be a rather excessive expectation, what with the current state of time travel technology and all...--"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." --Albert Einstein

This just goes to prove you can't make some poeple happy. The tech bends over backwards, and yet this user still has the gall to say "it's not perfect, because he can't fix something that happened previously". UH NO DUH. I really wish Mediacom kept a log of people and just banned them from subscribing again in the future, to prevent having to deal with them. Let Qwest deal with these propetually unpleased customers "Yes you fixed my problem and were friendly, but there should have never been a problem in the first place, so D- for the company"

there should have never been a problem in the first place, so D- for the company"

One good experience does not necessarily make up for years of poor experiences. It is a start to a better relationship, that is all.

And yes, if the installer have been as skilled as the Tech, Mediacom would have saved money by not having to do over his job and the customer would not have been inconvenienced by a second service call. Win win for Mediacom and the customer.

Perhaps Mediacom would be better off to ban me as a customer. After all, I expect them to perform up to their advertising. I tell the truth. Like many here on this forum, I do not feel it necessary to spin poor service.